Monday, August 14, 2017

Commentary on Meditations: B4:47

Just as if a god told you that you would die tomorrow or at least the day after tomorrow, you would attach no importance to the difference of one day, unless you are a complete coward (such is the tiny gap of time): so you should think there no great difference between life to the umpteenth year and life to tomorrow.

Many people are preoccupied with dying. Upon really dissecting one's death, one will come to know that they truly don't have control over when they will die. Indeed, we may eat healthy, exercise and live well and we may live a long, healthy life. And we ought to do all that we can to preserve and extend our life. But at the end of the day; after all analysis has been done, we are forced to the conclusion that the date and time of our death and the manner of our death is largely out of our hands - we have no control over these things. And in the grand scheme of things, especially in the context of time, there really is not much difference if you live 3 months, 3 years or 30 years or 90 years ... on a timeline of eternity, the difference between 3 months and 90 years is really, really small - "such is the tiny gap of time."